Tail gate attachment



Jan- 24, 1967 F. K. TARRANT, SR

TAIL GATE ATTACHMENT ."5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 24, 1964 INVENTOR.

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Jan- 24, 1967 F. K. TARRANT, SR 3,300,068

TAIL GATE ATTACHMENT Filed Deo. 24, 1964 5 Sheets-$heet 2 47 'I .fINVENTOR 3 /rff K. TP/Wf Si:

A TONE Jan- 24, 1967 F. K. TARRANT, SR

TAIL GATE ATTACHMENT 3 Sheets-$heet 5 Filed Dec. 24, 1964 United StatesPatent O 3,300,068 TAIL GATE ATTACHMENT Fred K. Tarrant, Sr., 4Excelsior Spring Ave., Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 12866 Filed Dec. 24, 1964,Ser. No. 421,045 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-83.36)

This invention relates to a tail gate attachment for trucks for emptyingthe truck of sand, salt or other granular material. More particularlystated the invention relates to apparatus of the character specified soconstructed and arranged that it will operate in either direction andwill deposit the material on a spreader yor on the side of a shoulder ofthe road.

The invention has for its salient object to provide a truck or tail gateattachment for emptying the truck of granular material such as sand,salt, cinders and like material and so constructed and arranged that itwill operate without tunneling and without jamming due to the presenceof gravel, chips or small stones.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment of thecharacter described so constructed and arranged that the amount ofmaterial deposited can be varied at the will of the operator.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment of thecharacter described so constructed and so attached to the truck that adump truck can be dumped in the usual manner without using theattachment.

Further objects of the invention will be clear from the followingspecification taken in connection with the drawings which form a part ofthis application and in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of the rear end of a dump truck having thetail gate attachment mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the rear end portion of a truck havingmounted thereon a tail gate attachment embodying the invention, the tailattachment being shown, looking at one end thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation taken substantially on line 3 3 of FIG.2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale taken substantiallyon line 4-4 of FIG. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The invention briey described consists of a tail gate attachment havinga frame pivoted to the rear end of the truck, the attachment having ahopper or trough extending transversely of the truck and disposed at alower level than the truck platform. The material deposited `in thehopper or trough may be dumped therein when the attachment is mounted ona dump truck by elevating the truck body. Alternatively, the attachmentmay be mounted on the rear end of a truck body in which pusher means isprovided for feeding the material out of the rear end of the truck intothe hopper of the attachment. A transverse conveyor is mounted in thehopper and has feeding bars which feed the material deposited in thehopper transversely in either direction, under the control `of theoperator. The feeding bars are elevated above the bottom of the hopperand engage and feed the material transversely. Because of the elevationof the feeding bars above the hopper bottom material such as cinders,small stones or gravel does not become jammed in the hopper and this isan important feature of the invention.

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In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings there is shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the rear end portion of atruck 10 having a platform 11.

The tru-ck attachment consists of a housing having front and rear walls15 and 16 for housing the conveyor which consists of conveyor chains 17and 1S. The conveyor chains 17 and 1S are connected by transversefeeding bars 19, and the lap 20 of the conveyor is positioned above atransverse plate or apron 21 which forms the bottom of the hopper 22. Itwill be noted that longitudinally extending V bars 23 extend across thehopper and space the upper lap 20 of the conveyor above the bottom.

The chains 17 and 18 are mounted on sprockets 25 and 26 mounted on ashaft 28 and the shaft 28 is driven by a chain 27 which in turn isdriven by a shaft driven by the motor M. The motor M is preferably ahydraulic motor and is driven by hydraulic fluid from pipes 30 and 31and the passage of uid through the pipes is controlled by valves so thatthe motor can be driven in either direction and thus through the chaindrive 25, 26, 27 and 28 a sprocket can be also driven in eitherdirection.

The attachment as shown particularly lin FIG. 2 is pivoted eccentricallyat 34 to uprights 35 at the rear of the truck and is supported by links36 and 37 which are pivoted at 38 to the attachment frame and at 39 toframe members 40 extending downwardly below the truck.

At the ends of the hopper and above the path of the conveyor chains andcross bars 19 are hinged doors 41 and 42 which control the passage ofthe material at the two ends of the hopper.

Below one end of the hopper as shown in FIG. 3 is mounted a chute 45through which material emptied from the truck body can be directed tothe edge -of a highway or the highway shoulder at the right viewing inFIG. 3.

At the other side of the truck viewing in FIG. 3 there is mounted on ashaft 46 a spinner disc 47 which is suitably driven by a motor 49 anddistributes the material on the highway. Adjustable vanes 48 may beraised or lowered to vary the spread of the material. The door 41 can beadjusted by a rod 50 and by adjusting this door the amount of materialfed to the spinner disc can be controlled.

The rear wall 52 of the attachment is pivoted at S3 and can be swungoutwardly on its pivot to give access to the tail gate attachment.

In order to protect the chains, flanges or ledges 55 and 56 are mountedon the walls 15 and 16 and the material fed from the truck body bysuitable feeding means such as a pusher plate 57 is deposited in thehopper above the bottom 21 thereof.

l In order to permit the use of the truck without the feeding attachmentacover 58 is suitably supported at its longitudinal edges and preventsthe material from entering the hopper and permits the depositing of thematerial at the rear edge -of the cover, this being permitted byswinging the gate 52 on its pivot 53.

In FIG. 1 the attachment is shown as mounted on the rear end of a dumptruck body 60 and when the cover 58 is raised and the truck body istilted the material will fall into the hopper through the rear end ofthe truck body.

Although certain specic embodiments of the invention have beenparticularly shown and described it will be evident that the inventionis capable of further modication and that further changes in theconstruction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit or the scope of the invention as covered by the followingclaim.

I claim:

In combination a truck, a material conveying and spreading attachment,means eccentrically pivoting the attachment to the rear end of the truckat the bottom of the truck body, said attachment comprising a chutedisposed transversely of the truck below the level of the truckplatform, said chute having an apron at the bottom thereof, an endlessconveyor in the chute having cross 15 bars movable above the apron atthe bottom of the chute 4 and means in the chute including V-shaped barson the apron extending longitudinally .thereof for spacing the conveyorcross bars above the apron.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,752,612 4/1930Owens et al 198-202 X 2,246,482 6/1941 Bisset 198-168 X 2,484,68910/1949 Davis 214-509 2,631,716 3/1953 Kottmann 198-168 3,237,756 3/1966Pulver 198-195 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

ALBERT I. MAKAY, Examinez'.

